Deactivation of the device, found near Muelheim Bridge over the
Rhine River, is scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon,
the DPA news agency reported.

The bomb, believed to be a US design, is 1.76 meters long and 60
centimeters in diameter.

It is buried 5 meters underground, which is going to complicate
the task of the bomb disposal squad.

“As is common with these heavy bombs, this one is very deep
down. Such a big bomb can't simply be taken out. We need to dig a
deep and wide hole first,” Dieter Daeneck, who is leading
the operation, told FAZ.

Earlier, 20,000 people had to leave their homes, including over a
1,000 residents of a nursing home, which required dozens of
ambulances to arrive on the scene.

Schools and kindergartens in one-kilometer area around the
location of the bomb as well the Cologne Zoo were closed, the DPA
news agency reported.

The city authorities also banned navigation on the Rhine River
and closed airspace in the area.

If the bomb exploded it could’ve caused “shock waves over a
wide distance that can rip off roofs, windows, doors and so
on," Wolfgang Wolf, disposal squad spokesman, is cited as
saying by Deutsche Welle.

It is 70 years since the end of World War Two, but nevertheless
unexploded bombs are still being found on a regular basis in
Germany.

Last Friday, another war-time bomb triggered the evacuation of
10,000 in Cologne.

The Allied forces bombarded Cologne in 262 separate air raids
between 1940 and 1945 during World War II.